Last night in town

It’s hard to believe, but this is our last full day in Florida before heading home. We’re on the bus back to Dodgertown from Jupiter after a loss to the Cardinals and tonight will mostly be spent packing up the offices and our personal belongings before tomorrow morning’s 8 a.m. bus to Lakeland. From there, we’ll bus to Tampa and then fly home for the Freeway Series, which starts on Thursday.

I know I promised to weigh in further on the new parking plan and while I think Frank McCourt’s web chat answered most of the questions you had, I certainly hope that everyone will give this a shot to work. I know that the price increase is not going to make our fans happy and I fully expect that any time we raise a price at Dodger Stadium, whether it’s for tickets, parking, food, souvenirs or anything of the sort, we’re going to hear it from you guys. But please understand that this truly is done with a serious plan to improve the parking situation at the stadium. This is not just a way to try and get more money out of our fans.

There are all sorts of costs that go into a plan this extensive and anyone who has been to the stadium knows what a hassle it is to get in and out. In my opinion, if we can save you all time, it’ll be worth the extra money. And if it’s not working, as many of you have suggested, we’ll amend it so that it does work. Just know that we take your comments seriously and we ask for your patience in letting this work the way we think it can.

Switching subjects, a special thank you goes out to alex41592 for the regular spring updates, as I know how much people appreciated it. Once we get back to town, we’ll start posting the lineups again as soon as they’re up.

(On Choi’s release) This is great news for Choi, bad news for the Dodgers. I’d expect an announcement to come soon that Ramon Martinez has made the team.

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34. capdodger

From the other side:

Sons of Sam Horn is confused. They don’t understand why the Dodgers just handed them someone with Ortiz-like comps, a teeny salary, and an option left. They think the Sox just fleeced the Dodgers.

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35. trainwreck

We could not even trade him for a prospect? Flanders, you just continue to regress.

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36. screwballin

34 They think the Sox just fleeced the Dodgers.

Actually, I think the DODGERS just fleeced the Dodgers. And they’re dancing to old disco songs in celebration.

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37. slackfarmer

34 “They think the Sox just fleeced the Dodgers.”

They did.

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43. DodgerHobbit

If Nomar gets hurt this year, Saenz is going to collapse into a puddle of goo under the workload. How much are we paying him again vs. the 750k to Choi?

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52. Steve

50 — I think that’s right. That decision was basically made with the Nomar band-aid, it seems to me. It’s absurd for Martinez to make the team over Choi, but that’s actually not saying much, since it is absurd for Martinez to make the team.

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60. regfairfield

Unless Loney quickly proves he’s not just an Erstad clone, we’re going to really be hurt by this move by 2007, or even this year in the likely scenario that Nomar goes down.

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73. MartinBillingsley31

65

Why? We have Nomar, Saenz, Martinez can play 1st, and even Kent can as well.

You just don’t get it.

Saenz cannot play everyday or anywhere near everyday.

Choi > martinez

Choi > izturis or whoever you put at 2b when moving kent to 1b.

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84. bigcpa

It’s been noted before, but why 11 days before we sign Nomar to play 1b, do we extend 35-yr-old Saenz for 2 years at $2M+? At that time it didn’t appear to be a choice between Saenz and Choi. Now I can’t fathom how Saenz is a more valuable commodity than Choi, especially in 2007. Just a shame.

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109. MartinBillingsley31

Our bench is extremely weak.

Guzman could help but he needs at bats everyday.

The fascination of ned and grady with lofton amazes me.

Guzman > lofton right now.

But then again this team has some serious flaws, more than just lofton, so why rush guzman.

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121. coachjpark

Wow. I knew this was going to happen, but it still ***** and symbolizes what’s wrong with Ned Coletti’s Dodgers………

I’m saddened today both as a Dodger fan, and as a Korean baseball fan; yet, I am happy for Hee Seop….

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132. GoBears

111. Ugh. I guess we knew this was coming, and for collective DT sanity, this is certainly preferable to watching Choi rot on the bench while lesser players amass outs. And I’m happy for Choi that he’s in a place where management philosophy values his well, his value.

This is bad because I think Choi was the best 1b option for the Dodgers, even ignoring his cheap price tag, and especially so in light of that, but it’s worse because of the ill it bodes for the Colletti era. He didn’t just make a bad decision – he revealed that he’s the kind of guy who would think that this was a good decision.

Feh.

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135. slackfarmer

126 The fact that Choi was passed over by many teams speaks more about the collective lack of wisdom in the baseball old guard than it does of Choi’s value. Time will tell if Theo or the majority of baseball is right on this one.

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139. willhite

If Choi had stayed with the Dodgers this year, chances are he would have had even fewer at bats than last year and nothing would have been proven…………..again.

At least he may have a chance with the Sox and we can all look at things in October and find out which group was correct in their analysis of Choi’s potential.

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156. TrueBlueLA

147 – I believe that’s spelled “John” Weisman. Pls check.

The funny thing about this waiver is that everyone was upset that the team was pinching pennies by getting Choi to play 1B, but they aren’t criticizing Ned for pinching pennies by not sending him to Vegas. Does Loney really have to play at AAA at this stage in his career? Is he further along than LaRoche was last year?

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272. MartinBillingsley31

If choi can’t get any return in a trade then how can izturis?

Again i hate to think about who ned trades at the deadline to get a so called impact player.

It seems like ned doesn’t have trading skills.

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329. oldbear

Colletti is just. Wow. Gave away Bradley, Choi, AP for nothing. Trades Tiff/Jax for a middle reliever (which I didnt mind but you’d think you could get more for those two guys), signed Tomko, Nomar, Lofton…Is going to have Ramon Martinez and Repko both make the team. Along with Alomar.

I’m surprised Jon hasnt called a spade a spade. Maybe its the ‘benefit of the doubt’. But I see nothing remotely close between Colletti’s player evaluation process, and DePo’s/Beane’s/Epstein/any sabre GM. Ned is just about as old school as they come. He reminds me of Omar Minaya (without the budget) or Bill Bavasi of the Mariners. I think the Dodgers are going to follow those two teams paths. Either be really bad, or be average but with a massive payroll.

2007 looks bleak unless they are counting on throwing all the rookies onto the team at once.

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336. TheDictator

335

I harped about this earlier. He could have at least got something for Choi’s 15 home runs.

But he got nothing in return and simply gave Choi away. It just goes to show the brilliance of Mr. Ned. He outsmarted Epstein!

The front page featured a story detailing the Dodgers (and Angels) newer practices of different pricing structures for seats at the Stadium. Although it was not really meant as a negative piece, many fans will probably read the article and come away with an impression the McCourts and the Dodgers are looking to make an extra buck at fans’ expense at every opportunity.

Simers’ column on the new crazy (and expen$ive!) parking plan was pretty funny! Every time Camille Johnson gets involved, hilarity ensues. How does she keep a job? Man, I sure miss Derrick Hall – that guy was CLASS.

I can’t believe the murals for Maddux and Gagne are still up with just 2 days to go before the Freeway Series! Someone better get a move on!

Nobody wants Loney in the lineup more then I do, he’s a great kid. But answer me this, how many HR’s did he hit last year ?? How many did he hit in ST this year?? How many positions can he legitimately play with experience ?? Yes he has gold glove potential at 1B, but nowhere else. His power is unproven and it needs to be developed. Yes his average is high in ST, but he hasn’t proven it over the course of a season in the big leagues. Being left handed he can’t play 3B and SS and 2B are not in his future. He needs experience in the OF and he needs to develop POWER !!! And with the luck of it all he has options, which gives him and the Dodgers the perfect amount of time for him to go to AAA and develop these skills. It’s a temporary move, especially if he develops the power.

Speaking of Gagne, he had a nice line today– 1 IP, 5 hits, 4 ER, and 3 doubles….
What to do with Loney? I say A-Rod or nothing, bc anything short will upset me… where is the article about Ned shopping him for someone of that sort? I’d love to check it out… I still think we should platoon Loney and Nomar and first, and Nomar and Betemit at third…. Nomar and Loney will both get a lot of AB’s, hopefully 3 games/week at first 1 at third would be fine for Nomar to handle. Something like that… I really hope we dont trade Loney for something quick, bc he is the future. I would love to see A-Rod at 3b though…

So was the point of the Dodgerthoughts blogs to prove that they ultimately didnt know what they were talking about, prove Ned and Grady right, and were whining and lamenting for no reason? “We gave up bradley and AP for nothing” I think that says it all… but there was the person who said Guzman was better than Kenny before last year even started– they sure knew what they were talking about…

Loney being sent down is the last straw for me, and has now completely pushed me over into the Colleti is just an incompetent GM camp. I gave him the benefit of the doubt for a long time, with some of his questionable moves. I tried to understand his reasoning for his moves, sometimes having great difficulty doing so.

Colleti had stuck by the idea that a youngster needs to kick down the door to make the big league club, which is fine, but what more do you want Loney to do? He led the minors in hitting last year, he is tearing up Spring Training again this year. He clear would be one of our three or four best hitters on the big league club as of today, and he gets sent down.

The saddest thing is that Colleti is probably in very little danger of losing his job despite his nearly atrocious moves. He has so much young talent that they will carry this team to at worst a second place finish, and probably the playoffs. Instead of capatilizing on this, Colleti is throwing roadblocks in the way of creating a team that could potentially dominate at least the NL West and probably all of the NL for the next 5-6 years.

So Whats up this this Magical wand that the cards hold over the Dodgers I’m getting really tired of the same old shutout everytime we see that team ST or not they have our number year in and year out…If we make it to playoffs again this year our scouting needs to be better put ear plugs in our hitters ears and give Martin some material to Screw with the the Cards hitters.Gotta Throw some monkeyballs at these guys.ST or not this team is not shaping up like it looks on paper.It’s deep but the frontline isn’t very strong….

The team should be ok- we have not put the real starting line-up out there too many times. This last week+ has been a little disturbing though, were getting creamed.
I do worry though, about Furcal. He is HUGE for our run production.

If Loney is sent down, I can’t say I’d be surprised. Colletti has done nothing right so far except throw more money than anyone else at Schmidt and Furcal, find an even more no-hit-SS-obsessed GM to help turn Izturis into Maddux, and not trade any of the top prospects YET.

But if he’s going to ignore the fact that Loney has knocked down the door, then it’s clear that his plan is not just old-school – it’s self-defeating. Never take a chance on a kid, but take a chance on every mediocre veteran you can find (hey, he had one good year – maybe he can repeat it!).

And I’m not nearly as sanguine as some that these “mistakes” are just temporary. Even leaving aside the 5 yrs to Pierre, Colletti has shown every sign that if a veteran does get injured, he’d rather swap for an even more mediocre veteran than let a kid take over. Anderson, Clark, Lugo, Hall, Hendrickson, etc.etc. The only real exception has been Russell Martin.

There’s only one reason to make kids wait their turn. If you need to win now, and the high-ceiling kids are not yet as good as roster-fodder vets, then wait.

But if the kids are already better than the guys they’re behind, then there’s one more reason to go with the vets – to put off arbitration so that you can have the prospects during their prime years for cheap.

But if you’re a big-market team, willing to throw millions at proven mediocrities, then clearly you can afford to pay a stud prospect a year earlier than you “have to.”

Which means that there are no more excuses for doing what Colletti is doing. Frankly, as I’ve said before, I think the problem is NOT that Colletti has a goofy master plan. I think the problem is that he’s has 30-yr-old ideas about how to evaluate talent, so he actually thinks he IS putting his best 25 on the ML roster. We’re all pretty sure he’s wrong about that, but his is the only opinion that matters.

What is going on here? Is that the guy who wanted Coletti’s head for releasing Choi? Or is that a fake post? People really need to chill out on all the bashing of Dodger management. It NOT EVEN APRIL!!!!!!!

Yes I am a Dodger Child Mommy taught me at a Young age to Love The Dodgers and I do!In Fact I Love Mom , Baseball Applepie n Chevrolet!So all you Dodger Haters can Eat **** beat small animals love the yankees and drive KIA’s!

Gary Smith wrote, “[Loney] needs experience in the OF and he needs to develop POWER”

I think Loney has a VERY sweet swing and that the power will come as he completes his physical maturation, but I don’t think I’d want him trying to DEVELOP power by changing his swing; he has a .300 hitter’s swing already, with good plate discipline that translates to high OBP. I also think it likely that he ends up a 15 – 25 HR guy at best, but that is plenty good – maybe like Mark Grace at his peak years.

Also, I really don’t like the idea of trying to play an excellent 1B as a below-average OF. I am pessimistic that he can learn to play the OF well; if you don’t already know how to track major-league flyballs at this point, maybe you just don’t have the necessary skills – quick trajectory judgment, etc.

garysmith, you have some points about Loney, although I have to object on three fronts. First, I think I can beat you on wanting Loney in the line-up. As an old-time Garvey fan, I have naturally been inclined to First Basemen. In 1992, I ran an All-Star write-in campaign for Eric Karros when he was a rookie (basically, I was stuffing the ballot box, although I did put up signs in the men’s restroom). It did not get him on the team, but he did become the starting first baseman. I may do that with Loney.

Second, he may develop power in AAA, but he’s just as likely to do that in the big leagues. Junior Griffey did not become a power hitter until several years into his major league career (he was younger, and matching his pure talent is rare, but power develops). And Loney is not the big bopper of the future. He’s like Gwynn and Grace. Kemp will be the clean-up hitter of the future.

Finally, more time in AAA will allow him to develop as a better outfielder to be sure. But while versatility is good, he only needs to be an outfielder in order to make the club this year. By next year, he’s almost certain to be the starting First Baseman (and no later than 2009). Even with Nomar, Loney is just better suited–and unless Abreu burns it up this year, we’ll need a 2B next year to replace a likely-to-retire Kent. That’s an easy switch for Nomar, assuming he stays healthy. So, while it’s good to learn the outfield, sending him down to learn the outfield does not make sense because by the time he learns it well, he won’t need it anymore.

I am extremely optimistic about this ballclub and how they’ll do this season. Just one thing worries me right now in the long-term perspective.

These kids we have now are good, and they’d fit in easily on many other ballclubs. Loney has nothing more to prove at AAA, his next schooling will come at the big league level. Yet, if the Dodgers are going to keep sending these kids down in favor of veterans (don’t get me wrong, I love having guys like Nomar, Kent and LuGo on our team), I fear these guys will ask to go to teams that will use their talent, and as our veteran core retires, we’ll have to deal with bridging a generation gap while the Loneys and Kemps are on other ballclubs making impacts.

It was alright the last few years sending them down to grow, but there comes a point when the fear of Edwin-Jacksoning a player isn’t a valid excuse to hold them back. I think Loney and Kemp have grown beyond the “prospect” label at this point, and, at least in Loney’s case, he can help the ballclub as an every day player today. Don’t get me wrong, they still have to prove themselves in the big leagues. I’d just like them to get that chance in blue before the grass might start looking greener on the other side.

That being said, hopefully the kids will be patient as I’m sure their time will come this season, and this team will realize it’s potential.

I went over and looked at Dodger Thoughts- I have no idea what this guy is doing by posting stuff from there in this blog- very odd. Pretty silly pasting comments from other blogs here. I did think, however, that that site is pretty heavy on negativity and cynicism- pretty light on understanding of what’s really been going on with the team. Who knows…. hopefully it goes away.

I used to post over there but I couldn’t take it anymore. Those guys are the most pompous preeks I’ve ever encountered. The one thing that amazed me about those people was the fact they rarely ever get anything right. And you’d think they’d learn something. Not them. They keep on keepin on with Dodger bashing and erroneous predictions. Really its kind of funny. Oldbear’s the guy that takes the cake. The poor fellow gets nothing right when it comes to Dodger baseball. I mean absolutely nothing. You could get rich quick in Vegas just betting the opposites of what Oldbear says about the Dodgers. Its an amazing phenomenon.

If Loney develops power, that’s great, but as long as he continues to hit and play a good first base ,and or outfield that’s all that really matters. A lot of great ball players didn’t have a lot of power and had great careers. (Keith Hernandez & Tony Gwynn) are 2 of them. I only hope management gives him a chance.

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